You can only connect outlets to inlets (i.e. When you let go (of the mouse) the connection is made. When you stretch the cord to nearby the inlet of another object, a comment appears telling you about that inlet.
You make a patch cord by dragging from the outlet of an object. Each object has inlets at the top, and outlets at the bottom. Objects can be connected together with patch cords. This is useful in that it can tell you or other people working on it how the patch is put together, which is very helpful for fault finding, and revision.
It looks different and has a ~ sign in the name to remind you that it is msp and not max.Īrguments can be added to an object to tell it how to behave, for instance a cycle~ object will generate a sine wave but the addition of the argument 440 will make the sine wave oscillate at 440 Hz.Ī comment box lets you comment on your patch. The message box is simply a container for any piece of text or a number which gets sent when clicked on.Ī max object carries out some sort of function on data going through it.Īn msp object works similarly to a max object but at a far higher processing speed and is therefore more suited to direct handling of audio data. There are several different elements that go to make up a patch. Objects are really small programs which you put together to make larger programs. To create these you must use an object box, which is a ‘blank’ box into which you type an object name. As well as the objects shown in the palette, there are many more objects. If you drag it while holding alt, you also get a copy. (There are many more objects than these – but these are the most common, basic ones.) When you’ve made an object, you can resize it, drag it around the screen, cut, copy and paste it. If you hover over each object, you will see its name. If you want to press buttons, move sliders and so on, you need to lock the patch by ⌘e Now double-click anywhere in the window. The patcher has two modes, EDIT MODE for editing the patch (creating objects, making connections), and LOCKED MODE for actually using the patch. This creates the window in which you will make your patch. To create a new patch, select File>New Patcher ( ⌘n).
This is because it is made by connecting (or ‘patching’) graphical objects together on the screen. To get more of an idea of what Max can do, visit the website and click on the ‘projects made with Max’ link.Ī programme in Max is a called a ‘Patch’ (or ‘Patcher’).
It can also handle video using a built-in extension called ‘Jitter’.
Max/MSP (often just called ‘Max’) is a ‘multimedia programming environment’ which will allow you to create pretty much any kind of music or audio software you can think of. More elegant approaches to additive synthesis. Refining soundfile playback control and timing.